Is there a recommended wood bleach for briar? I searched the library, and may have missed it, but I did not find anything on wood bleach.

I have this Barnett & Bickley English pipe (below) I am restoring, and I want to get rid of the red stain. From the rim, it looks like there is some cross grain, which would mean that there may be a lot of birds eye in the bowl. That is end grain, so it may be impossible to strip. I have tried stripping with no success.

Anyone had any success lightening briar with wood bleach?

"At present we're on the wrong side of the door. But all the pages of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so." ~ C.S. Lewis

The stain penetrates the briar. Sometimes it goes all the way through and it appears on the chamber wall. This is the function of the briar root so it's not so surprising. Those chamber walls then have a uniform bowl coating applied.

So bleaching it may not work, because it penetrates the briar.

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Step into the sun
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Wood bleach has been around for quite some time, and was used quite a bit in 50's furniture. Here is an article on it. I am not aware of anyone ever trying it on briar. You might be the first, setting the next big trend in the pipemaking world. On the other hand, it involves some dangerous chemicals, so you might want to avoid it. At the very least, make sure you cork the chamber well before bleaching.

"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a cob with a forever lucite stem." (Pipverbs 1:1)
"No more signatures that quote other CPS members." - Thunk

A quick solution would be about 5 seconds on a belt sander to remove the stained wood. Obviously, this will lower the height of the pipe. This might be a very bad idea. Try if first with a pipe you don't care about.

But I think I will just keep the remnants of the red stain. I did get some off the surfaced of the sand blast. Also been thinking of a polyurethane satin finish.

It's the curse of the cross grain I think this pipe has. Come with my liking sandblasted and rusticated pipes (I only own one smooth finish pipe, and it is partially rusticated). Often pipes are rusticated and sandblasted to hide crappy grain.

I was hoping it was not so, and that this might have been an old pipe back in teh days when prime briar was widely available and cheap.

So, the hunt goes on. I will be back on Ebay tomorrow looking for another pipe, and also give this one maybe it's first bowl of GH Brown Flake

"At present we're on the wrong side of the door. But all the pages of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so." ~ C.S. Lewis

Curse of cross grain? You might not find cross grain or guinea grain aesthetically pleasing, and that is simple de gustibus and all that, but if you believe a pipe with cross grain smokes poorly simply because of the alignment of the grain, I'm deeply concerned that you've been resting your head in the Arizona sun next to your stummels. Please, please tell me you will wear a hat from now on. I'm worried about you, buddy.

It's the curse of the cross grain I think this pipe has. Come with my liking sandblasted and rusticated pipes (I only own one smooth finish pipe, and it is partially rusticated). Often pipes are rusticated and sandblasted to hide crappy grain.

With that amount of cake it wasn't cursed. Whether it is now is dependent upon your actions.

I only like three of the pipes I have, and with summer, I have stopped smoking Nightcap, so that narrows it to two Need more pipes. But NOT 150 as I have seen some collect.

First a caveat; I'm not a pipe maker. But carnuba wax is really for smooth clear finished pipes. And in any case it dissipates in the first smoke because of the heat. What was very shiny will have a nice matte finish after the first smoke. The guy at Dad's was applying mineral oil on some of them but I'm skeptical of its use. Bees wax would last longer than carnuba wax too. But try to avoid applying glue for dirt and dust. With textured surfaces there is lots of surface to hold dirt and patina anyway. You can just rely on your hands to do all of this and the surface will acquire a ruddy colour depending upon the characteristics of the oils on your hands anyway. A periodic brushing with a nylon brush cleans up rough finished surfaces quite well. You'd be surprised how dirty they can get. If you need more cleaning use some dilute Murphy's wood soap and the nylon brush again. Some of the pipe makers will use Shellac on blasted pipes to preserve the surface finish. On rusticated pipes it's not necessary. Many rusticated and blasted pipes have a two-tone staining. It's usually black over red or orange. The hands wear away the black over time and you get red/orange highlights on high areas in the finish.

You're out of the woods
You're out of the dark
You're out of the night
Step into the sun
Step into the light

Have you followed Sid's work of refurbishing and modifying pipes? In the classic car world we use the term "restomod" to describe the simultaneous actions of restoring and modifying a vehicle. A guy might take a car built in 1965 and rebuild it with a contemporary motor and transmission, or different headlights, or better brakes. One can end up with classic styling and modern reliability in a car that's built exactly as they envision. House flippers speak of a building that has "good bones", but it needs updating. Sid is a master of doing this with pipes. You can find many of his projects in the Pipe Making room. Follow the links to his website for a lot of documented projects he's done over the years.

With all that said, don't fall in to what I call the Google Trap. Don't stop experimenting yourself in favor of searching the net to find out what other people have done. For sure, seeking advice and information is a good thing, but it's no substitute for getting your own hands dirty.

EDIT: And don't bleach your pipes.

"If we ever get to heaven boys, it aint because we aint done nothin' wrong" - Kris Kristofferson

"One of the things I love about CPS is the frank and enthusiastic dysfunction here. God help me, I do love it so." – OldWorldSwine

"I'd like to put a hook in that puppet and swing it through a bunch of salmon!" - durangopipe

Have you followed Sid's work of refurbishing and modifying pipes? In the classic car world we use the term "restomod" to describe the simultaneous actions of restoring and modifying a vehicle. A guy might take a car built in 1965 and rebuild it with a contemporary motor and transmission, or different headlights, or better brakes. One can end up with classic styling and modern reliability in a car that's built exactly as they envision. House flippers speak of a building that has "good bones", but it needs updating. Sid is a master of doing this with pipes. You can find many of his projects in the Pipe Making room. Follow the links to his website for a lot of documented projects he's done over the years.

With all that said, don't fall in to what I call the Google Trap. Don't stop experimenting yourself in favor of searching the net to find out what other people have done. For sure, seeking advice and information is a good thing, but it's no substitute for getting your own hands dirty.

EDIT: And don't bleach your pipes.

Thanks, Fred. You mean Sid, from Greece, right? I'll see if I can find this "Pipe Making Room" you speak of. Along this line, I recently paged through a restoration done by "Reborn Pipes." Fascinating, meticulous process of bringing back a pipe that had suffered small fractures after being dropped on concrete. A hand made Pipa Croci TRUE...